Great Minds Think Alike
by My-name-is-foxglove
Summary: shikatema / She's giving him that grin of hers, the one that scrunches her nose and flaunts her fangs, and Shikamaru can't help it, his breath catches in his throat (along with his stupid, stupid heart.)


**Title:** Great Minds Think Alike

**OTP:** shikatema

**Theme set:** Gamma

**Summary:** They're both strategists, after all, used to waiting, watching and weighing their options before making their next move.

**Author's note: **SHIKATEMAAAAA. I've always had a steady but subtle love for this ship and 678 just freaking PUSHED ME OVER THE EDGE THEY ARE ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT DO YOU HEAR ME. Ahem. Anyway. I _did_ say I'd do another 50 sentences for this freaking perfect OTP if the response to _**Behind Closed Doors**_ was good, so...here you go! Ignore the fact that this is a few years overdue. XD As always, I thrive on feedback! Do a writer a favor and tell me which ones struck a cord or two :D

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><p>#01 – Ring<p>

She gives him a terribly lovely grin, and soon enough he's casually picking out excuses to see her; she grumbles that she's not a puzzle to be figured out, and he tells her he knows, presses the advantage of surprise to kiss her; she warns him dating is as far as she can go, and he shrugs off his life plans, says that marriage is troublesome (either way, he'll be with her till the day he dies).

#02 – Hero

She's always been more of a soldier than a person, and tells him so too, lets him know from the start that she has no room for morality amidst orders and allegiance- but then, loyalty is a fiddly, quarrelsome thing and when Temari says she'll come to his rescue, she really does mean it.

#03 – Memory

Again and again, life keeps teaching her that same blood stained lesson: anyone will try to slit your throat with a little motivation, so don't fool yourself into thinking there is such a thing as mercy for the weak (kill or be killed, that's all there is to it, so get to them before they get to _you_, show no mercy because _they_ won't, but then-) but then…_ "I forfeit."_

#04 – Box

They meet again and it's like they've never left the arena: she smirks a challenge and he snidely rolls his eyes, she rips out a taunt and he drawls a retort- and the funny thing is, he never stops to ask himself what he's trying to prove to her.

#05 – Run

_"I'm assuming this is the first time you're being carried bridal style,"_ Temari snickers, scooping him up with a phenomenal lack of effort; they need to retreat and his leg's sprained, so Shikamaru bears the indignity with nary a snarky comment– it's not the first time she's saving his life, and certainly not the last.

#06 – Hurricane

Breath-taking, he decides, is the best word for her: plenty terrifying, and just enough beautiful, to make your lungs seize up_ (oh, if only he knew the feeling was mutual)._

#07 – Wings

His heart stops dead at the sight of her mangled fan sticking out amidst the rubble; his breath hitches and then he's scrambling towards the collapsed building, frantically calling her name, because Temari without her fan is like a bird with broken wings_ ("Temari? Temari?! TEMARI OF SUNA, ANSWER ME!")._

#08 – Cold

Somewhere dark and cold and _very_ uncomfortable, she hears him calling for her and wants to yell back that she's just two meters away, not dead or dying anytime soon, _stop panicking_- but there's rubble pressing down on her throat and jagged wood holding down her limbs, and she can't do anything but wince guiltily as he starts screaming.

#09 – Red

His hands are raw and slick with blood by the time he finds her under half a collapsed table, wounded, her throat battered so black and blue she can barely speak- wounded but _alive_; he chokes out a dry sob at the raspy way she sighs and lifts one discoloured hand to cradle his salty cheeks, at the drop of blood spilling down her split lip as she mouths:_ crybaby_.

#10 – Drink

They're in the office and he's watching her out of the corner of his eye again, though he'd never admit it; the kunoichi sighs as she stretches, and lets him drink in the flash of skin (after all, she's watching him too).

#11 – Midnight

Temari snakes her arms around his neck –she smells of new wounds and antiseptic– and whispers, with a low laugh, that he didn't have to wait up for her; Shikamaru wraps his arms around her waist, carefully adjusts his grip around her bandages, and lies that he just couldn't sleep.

#12 – Temptation

His hands itch to change the battle plan and assign her somewhere else, somewhere safer, somewhere out of harm's way, but Shikamaru stands strong against the urge; for one, it would ruin a perfectly good strategy and for another, if Temari ever figured it out (and she would) she'd _kill_ him.

#13 – View

His comrade's blood has stained his shirt as dark as his shadows and she half-expects him to start crying, but he just gives her a badly attempted smile, hands shaking as he brings a smoke up to his lips; Temari slaps it away, calls him an idiot for acting tough and not letting himself grieve, and kisses him until he's gasping for breath.

#14 – Music

He complains endlessly about being left home with the kid, but Temari just shakes her head and snorts; she knows perfectly well that when she comes back, her son will be sprawled across his father's legs and dozing off to a lazily sung lullaby.

#15 – Silk

"Oh, but this is _hysterical-_ I'm the one who carried the little grump for nine months, and yet _you're_ the only one our daughter actually seems to like...what do you mean she takes after me?"

#16 – Cover

He only ever asks her to cover his back once, in a Suna-Konoha collaboration that isn't really important, isn't even that dangerous, and she complies because she figures he needs it at the time but here's the thing: he only asks her the once, and Temari, she says 'yes', but what she really means is 'always'.

#17 – Promise

"How about this, I'll _consider_ marrying you if the next time you ask me, we aren't in mortal danger!"

#18 – Dream

Some part of his mind finds it bitterly ironic that she's the only girl he's ever wanted to really, properly meet his parents, and now she can only meet one of them _(he's sick of all the should-haves in his life)._

#19 – Candle

He turns to face her the moment his father's funeral ends, eyes as bleak as his clothing soaked with the smell of incense, jaw set in determination, and when he speaks, there is no 'please', no 'maybe', no 'if', because the look in her eyes mirrors his own, and to demean that would be an insult _("I want you to meet my mother.")_

#20 – Talent

She probably has no idea how well he knows her, how he files away every nuance in her expression, every timbre of her voice, how he stays up at night sometimes to take out the memories and tilt his head at them: how her hands will find her hips when she feels defensive, that narrow slit of her eyes as she's considering her next move, the way she says his name.

#21 – Silence

He leans in a little too close, eyes a little too dark, and she presses against him when she should run, tilts her head when she should jerk it away… he kisses her, and the world goes mute.

#22 – Journey

"This is more than a joining of two people, this is a unification of two villages, the further solidification of a long-held alliance, and as the Hokage overlooking this momentous occasion, I would just like to say: _YOU BETTER BELIEVE I CALLED IT!"_

#23 – Fire

It's just a confession from a childhood friend –and a _dead_ one at that, sealed and buried in the desert Suna calls a coffin– but jealousy still rises like bile at the back of his throat, clawing at his insides with red-hot talons even as he forces a disinterested 'oh?' past clenched teeth, looks past the gossipers and glares at her, even though she's done nothing wrong.

#24 – Strength

She always keeps one step back when he's talking to friends, but he doesn't say anything about it; he knows she's just learning how to pick apart her armour and clumsily mould friendship into the exposed fissures, finds death threats more familiar than small talk and hates strangers; so Shikamaru, he takes one step back too, stands by her side, and doesn't say a thing.

#25 – Mask

He knows how to smooth his expression into disinterest and twist his tone into apathy, how to make sure he doesn't stare at her too long or talk to her too soft and _especially_ how to avoid saying her name, unless there's a title attached to it, because formality is the best mask next to indifference (and masks, as all ninja know, are the lynchpins of deception).

#26 – Ice

The problem, Shikamaru irritably thinks, is that he has no idea how _she_ feels about anything; she covers all her feelings with smirks and taunts and pride, and reading her is like falling onto your knees and trying to peer into an ice-covered lake (he's going to get frostbite, soon enough).

#27 – Fall

Temari laughs it off, but her insides are squirming and the back of her neck is hot; it's only a matter of time, she thinks as she avoids his scrutinising gaze, before he notices how one look from him can make her heart jolt.

#28 – Forgotten

To this day, they still argue over who made the first move: he splutters while accusing her of knock-out smiles and throaty nicknames, while she scoffs and tells him that if it was a _coincidence_ he became an exam proctor when she was assigned as Suna's messenger, then she'd eat Kamatari.

#29 – Dance

They lounge in a corner of the great hall as everyone else rushes to dance, more than content with shadows and quiet and company; she stretches and pops her joints with a sigh before leaning back to rest her head against his shoulder; a lazy smile stretches across his face and he closes his eyes, languidly wrapping an arm around her waist.

#30 – Body

The moment isn't rushed (nothing about their relationship is, after all, they're both strategists), oh no, it's _revelled_ in, the clash of dark eyes and idle, crowing hands, whispered conversation amidst the slow, decisive rustle of clothing.

#31 – Sacred

"Make no mistake, I am Temari of Suna," the mother of two says with a blood curdling grin, "but for the people of Konoha, I would die without a second thought."

#32 – Farewells

She laughs when he pulls her into the shadows to steal a kiss –a first, for him– and zealously returns the favour until his hair's messed up, his eyes are dark and he's giving her that slow, crooked smile that convinces her to stay just _one_ more night (she's pretty sure he planned the whole thing, too).

#33 – World

Six hours after the birth, Temari is tired but triumphant and Shikamaru's staring at his daughter as if he still can't wrap his head around her existence; she's about to poke fun at his dumbfounded expression when their baby lets out a slow, perfect little yawn and she can see it in his face, he absolutely _melts_.

#34 – Formal

"Well, we can't all be like Shikamaru, getting paid to escort his own girlfriend, now can we?"

#35 – Fever

They both curl their lips at other couples fevered public displays of affection; _they_ are not clingy, and make it a point of pride to keep it that way, in public (two paces between them at all times, excluding the odd dark corner or two) and private (which is really none of your business).

#36 – Laugh

She's giving him that grin of hers, the one that scrunches her nose and flaunts her fangs, and Shikamaru can't help it, his breath catches in his throat (along with his stupid, stupid heart).

#37 – Lies

He catches her smiling at Kurenai's child and asks if she's never thought about settling down, raising a family; Temari scoffs and tells him _no, and don't you get any ideas._

#38 – Forever

"You're haughty, domineering, _troublesome_ and- and I…want you in my life."

#39 – Overwhelmed

He catches her eye when she stumbles into camp and gestures with a tilt of his head that she should go get some rest; Temari just shakes her head, takes her place next to him by the campfire and demands he start the strategy meeting (by the end of the night, Shikamaru's staring at the cloudless night sky and pretending he hasn't noticed she's fallen asleep on his shoulder).

#40 – Whisper

She hesitates, briefly, before she grabs him by the front of his Allied Forces uniform and roughly pulls him close (_just in case I don't get to say goodbye_, she whispers against his mouth); he fists his hands in her hair and wishes he'd gotten the courage to kiss her first (_there won't be any goodbyes,_ he wants to tell her, but can't quite get the words out).

#41 - Wait

All the worried words keep clamouring at the tip of his pen, being written and crossed out and rewritten and crossed out again until he finally manages to restrain himself and keep the letter short and calm and indifferent (_Heard there was a sandstorm…Chuunin exams still on for Suna_? _Write back if you're not hospitalised_), and thus begins the longest week of Shikamaru's life.

#42 - Talk

"Let me get this straight: you two had some- some _stupid_ argument and you couldn't just talk it out like normal people, no, you had to do this whole _freaky_ passive-aggressive ninja couple thing and now you've ruined a perfectly good ramen stand, a_ perfectly good _ramen stand, what, may I ask, _WHAT_ DID THE RAMEN _EVER_ DO TO YOU?!"

#43 - Search

She's heading out to dig for ashitaba roots on his mother's request, and Shikamaru offhandedly warns her about the body in the backyard; it's proof of how well she understands his nature that Temari doesn't even blink, simply shrugs an 'okay' and heads out with a wave.

#44 - Hope

She thinks she'll never lie to her kids, never let those sweet falsities of "daddy will always come back" or "mommy will never leave you" pass her lips; but then she actually becomes a mother (his fault, as usual) and all Temari can do is look her babies in the eyes, lie through her teeth and hope for the best.

#45 – Eclipse

Waking up from the infinite tsukuyomi is like dying while you're awake: people are groaning and crying and throwing up, and he's staring numbly at nothing, the back of his throat aching with bitter disappointment –gone, gone, _gone_– until she bursts into his vision, a blaze of righteous fury, snarling that her dreams are shattered too – and he looks at her and realizes, not all gone, not really.

#46 –Gravity

He tries to deny the pull at first, stifle the instinctive curving of his mouth and mulishly ignore the pleasant hum when she's around; she might make him high now, but Shikamaru knows what comes up must come down and he has absolutely no intention of falling for her (it takes him two years to realize he already has).

#47 – Highway

Most people forget, in the face of her ferocious bravado, that she's a strategist in her own right _(she's coughing up blood, ordering him to leave her behind, she's not _worth_ it, stop being so stubborn),_ the same way they never seem to remember that under all his unmatched intellect, there lies a bleeding heart _(he's hauling her over his shoulders, telling her to shut up, save her strength, he'll think of something)._

#48 –Unknown

He calls the unplanned pregnancy troublesome (_frightening_, here is one more precious person he could lose) and she agrees, says it's inconvenient (_daunting_, she doesn't know how to be a mother) but his hand rarely leaves the small of her back and she cradles her stomach the way dragons hoard gold.

#49 – Lock

He cautiously edges his hand towards hers, freezing when the tip of his pinky barely brushes against her skin, glancing up guiltily to meet her amused gaze; Shikamaru flushes but Temari just laughs –at him and with him all at the same time- and threads her fingers through his.

#50 –Breathe

He keeps his affection silent, staining the edges of wry smiles; she keeps her fondness jagged, glinting behind curt praise; he breathes in, she breathes out and they walk in time with each other _(it's beautiful, if you know how to see it)._


End file.
